Cult Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci said in an interview for his 70th birthday on Wednesday that he will be making his first 3D film this year saying it was like riding on a "flying carpet".

"I will be doing a new film in the autumn. I am on the brink of an exciting period full of descents into the galleries and mines of creativity," said Bertolucci - the man behind "The Last Emperor" and "Last Tango in Paris".

"I want to use 3D in a different way from what we have seen in films like 'Avatar' or other films characterised by special effects," he said.

"I want to sit on the flying carpet that this technology offers... I want to use the technology to go even more in depth on the characters," he added.

The film will be based on the Italian novel "Me and You" by Niccolo' Ammaniti, which came out last year and is a story about adolescent love.

Bertolucci's last film "The Dreamers" - an erotic love story starring Eva Green based in Paris during the 1968 student riots - came out in 2003.

Art-house German directors Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog last month unveiled features that push the limits of 3D cinema at the Berlin film festival.